1To John Jay from Peter Augustus Jay, 5 April 1801 (Jay Papers)
He only engaged to make Exertions for that purpose. He has completed the Steam Engines for the Philadelphia Water Works; but instead of making Money by them, he says he has lost 30,000 Dollars— As some Recompense the Company have permitted him to erect on his own Account, such Machines as he...
2To James Madison from Robert R. Livingston, 13 June 1801 (Madison Papers)
Having turned my attention to the steam Engines
3To Thomas Jefferson from Richard Claiborne, 22 August 1802 (Jefferson Papers)
...their success; and I expect they will be proved shortly. Thus then I may venture to hope for a complete system of inland navigation, as far as my humble abilities can go. I am endeavoring to get a steam engine brought forward, where the great advantage lies. My knowledge of your favorable disposition towards the arts I trust will be an apology for my intruding this information on you.
4To James Madison from Samuel Morey, 5 September 1802 (Madison Papers)
...steam-operated spit (1793), a windmill (1796), a steam pump (1799), and the internal combustion engine (1826). He began steamboat experiments in 1790 and was awarded a patent in 1803 for improvements on a steam engine.
5To Thomas Jefferson from James Sylvanus McLean, 30 September 1802 (Jefferson Papers)
The principal circumstances which circumscribe the use of steam engines in their present construction, are the quantety and weight of the engine; the number of its members; and the quantety of power expended in moving these members, and keeping up a condensing vaccuum—These defects are chiefly owing...
6To James Madison from Isaac Briggs, 11 October 1802 (Abstract) (Madison Papers)
...in a letter of which the following is a copy, and put into the Post-Office, in Baltimore, on the evening of the day of its date.” Enclosures are a specification of an improvement in the steam engine for which Samuel Briggs, Jr., was granted a patent on 9 Oct. 1802 and an 11 Oct. 1802 certification by justice of the peace William Russell of Baltimore that Samuel Briggs of Georgia had affirmed...
7To Thomas Jefferson from Benjamin H. Latrobe, 9 November 1802 (Jefferson Papers)
The Gentleman who erected the Steam engines of the Waterworks contracted for the use of all the power which they should possess, Nicholas J. Roosevelt, who engaged in several ventures that involved steam power and metals processing, built the STEAM ENGINES for the Philadelphia waterworks and the rolling and slitting mill that was also powered by the engines (same, 143n, 145, 146n, 226n, 560–1n;
8To Thomas Jefferson from Richard Claiborne, 12 December 1802 (Jefferson Papers)
...expected utility of the highest power that can be applied. I have produced a simple and sufficient resistance, and it only requires an equable and adequate force to render the invention publicly useful. The steam engine is my aim—and tho’ it has been objected to as applied to navigation, upon the principle of Boulton and Watts’s engine, as racking the vessel, yet that very objection may be...
9To Thomas Jefferson from Horatio G. Spafford, 30 October 1803 (Jefferson Papers)
...“deep despotism that reigns supreme in Tammany-Hall.” He died of cholera a few months after Congress narrowly approved a bill granting him an unusual permission to maintain secrecy over a patented invention intended to augment the power of steam engines (Julian P. Boyd,
10To Thomas Jefferson from Daniel French, 5 July 1804 (Jefferson Papers)
...ultimately Jeffersonville, Indiana. Claiming to have conceived the idea in 1791 of a steam-propelled boat, he was a rival of Robert Fulton and Oliver Evans. He did not receive a patent for his own “improvements in the steam engine for boats, mills, etc.” until 12 Oct. 1809. He became known for his oscillating horizontal cylinder engines, including the